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Microsoft Drops Xbox One Online DRM Requirements

Once more, the power of whining over the internet has changed the world for the better. After getting whipped and lashed by gamers and press alike, Microsoft has finally decided to drop Xbox One’s online DRM checks and games sharing restrictions.

Accordingly, internet connection is no longer required to play single player games on Xbox One. Additionally, Xbox One games will not be region-locked and there won’t be any restrictions on reselling or lending them.

It is worth noting however that each Xbox One console will have to be activated once before playing any games. Additionally, Xbox One owners will have to download a day one patch to remove the aforementioned restrictions.

This policy reversal was not without consequences. "There's a few things we won't be able to deliver as a result of this change," explained Vice President of Xbox Live Marc Whitten. "One of the things we were very excited about was 'wherever we go my games are always with me.' Now, of course your physical games won't show up that way. [However] the games you bought digitally will... Similarly, the sharing library [is something] we won't be able to deliver at launch."

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you people have no sense of right or wrong ms is doing this to help the industry like cliff b says how do you expect to have next gen graphics next gen game play big buget games and have used games or no drm ??? pirates destroy everything it is people like you guys that are greedy go sit in a movie theater and record the movie burn dics and sell. these days game companies have hundreds if not thousands of employees what you think they work for free? get a job and buy the games! so what if you cant sell em they were not entended for that anyway! look at heavy rain short game so everyone bought it used or rented and the dev lost huge profits on that go get a playstation 4 if you want to ruin gaming real gamers will stick to steam or xbox one. people with moral's work for the stuff they have poor or rich makes no difference im poor and still pay for all the songs i listen to and dont sell em when im done pay for all the games i play... bunch of petty theives grow up stop supporting systems that support or enable pirating! sony knew thats the only way to beat microsoft was to kick the devs in the nuts well guess what its the devs that make the games and who do you think there going to side with? if you had your own company what system would you rather sell your hard work on? you dont go to a theme park then sell the experience after to somebody else they gotta got and experience it for themselfs

Hahahaha,,, what a bunch of losers, some of their decision makers, the ones that came up with this greedy idea in the first place, should be taken in the back and shot on the ******* head.... They must have been smoking some **** when they were seeing the dollars in their eyes. Well, the damage is done and the word is out there and I've seen Sony trying to capitalize on MS shortcomings about the reselling and lending to friends/relatives. Why MS tries to squeeze every penny out of everyones **** is beyond me, why not just stick to decent honest ethical business where everyone can feel happy. It only means that some of the CEO will get a few less billion in bonus but they'll still have all the other billion per year and the private plane/prostitutes etc.

Buy a cheap PC play some of the best games ever made from 80 til this day and stop wasting money on overpriced toys so you can showoff to your friends at lunch brake.
Always online is inevitable and it will happen sooner or later...

I still won't buy an XBone as i simply don't trust M$ to not reintroduce the restrictions once there have been sufficient numbers in sales. -------- The fact is, they have that facility now and i can guarantee the next move, once sales of the console are large enough, will be to restrict selected AAA titles before moving onto a broader range of games. --------- Microsoft can kiss my ****.

WTF is Micro$hit talking about here? Why can't a loser, oops I mean "user" just take their "physical games" with them? Like games on disc? Uhhhhh, just bring the discs along too? I don't get the statement. Maybe because I'm too smart & too wealthy to play with little kiddie consoles & also 'cuz I get all my games for free from my friends on places like TPB. Who the **** uses discs anymore?

And here is the perfect example of why Microsoft and all the other big game makers are doing DRM. People just like you. Everybody was just upset about the whole thing because now it makes stealing games that much more difficult. Not impossible, but more difficult. I for one was all for the changes and had no problem with them. And you cant say that you don't have a reliable internet as the reason you hate the always online. Do you hate your phone? Its always online and constantly communicating with world wide network. Anybody who would even consider buying one of these consoles is going to have internet. Just my $.02

Remember DRM works "both" ways. You won't be able to buy used games but you also won't be able to sell your games either. I personally buy new but trade in when I'm done (won't be able to do that with DRM). For that reason, no I don't support DRM at all. But I do agree with you that the real reason for the DRM was to deal with piracy. I can't count how many people who "modded" or "hacked" their 360 to play games illegally. MS even bans people who do it, so it must be significantly prevalent.

The main point of DRM always was, and still is to stop second hand sales. DRM never caused any problems for people who pirate games, they just crack them or use modchips to bypass security checks. If it was meant to stop piracy it would've been the most stupid attempt ever, also they can't publically say they hate second hand sales because people in general like selling their games. So they say it's to stop piracy because they know sheeple will believe them even if the real reason is dancing right in front of them (i.e. you and the other guy discussing second hand sales while still blaming piracy, lol).

I will admit that I have never been one to trade my games in ever. I am mostly a PC gamer. I have a PS3, XBOX360, and a Wii. I still own every game I have ever bought for any of my systems. I don't believe in DRM only because its a waste of time trying to stop dishonest people. Dishonest people will be dishonest. DRM is just a way of keeping the honest, honest. People like my self are the only ones who suffer because now we have to deal with all of this crap just to do something that we enjoy.

Dear Microsoft/Xbox One: Oh praise be to you great one for finally relenting after a hailstorm of protest since your unveiling for ALLOWING us mere mortals to continue to do with our video games what we've been able to do since 1985 (i.e. buying/selling/trading the games we bought and paid for as well as play our games offline for longer than 24hrs at a time) even though Sony was going to allow us to continue to do so from the start. Once again, thank you all powerful as MERCIFUL Microsoft/Xbox One for bestowing upon us our given rights that we've been utilizing since 1985! Praise be to you powerful one.... Eat crap.

Read as much in an article on Forbes. Pre-order numbers are too low right now, could be a temporary move to shore up sales, then when there is enough in the market reintroduce the feature through a system update. Remember they did not "remove" the feature, they are using a system update to "disable" it. When you buy the console the restrictions are still there, built in to the system, you need to connect and do a system update to remove them. A future update could just as easily reintroduce them

They are removing the 24h online check (for the console) and DRM checks for their products. There is no way to physically remove the hardware from the console because all it needs to do those checks is an internet connection. What they never said, and what Sony is also guilty of, is that both consoles offer devs the means to do DRM checks if they want to. Except now both companies can say "Hey, we don't check anything the devs made their game do it so take your complaints to them."

It seems people are really big fanboys here. Sony is also one dirty company. Sure they have better pr but they are in it because of the money. And since sony did not allow my own cds to be played on computer or cars plus i dont give them any cred. Sure microsoft had som bad ideas as well noe with x1. But they changed and I cannot differ microsoft from any other big company like google, apple, samsung

Based on what I usually read on this site, I would say Sony "fanboys" are actually a minority. Recent events are starting to change that, as we can see. I'm personally a fan of getting value for my money, so in that case if it makes me a Sony fan then so be it. And if MS offers more value for the money then I'm an xbox fan again (as I was when the original 360 was released).

The real mystery is why people volunteer to be fans at all. M$ and Sony are lame, end of story. Why make a choice to support them with fandom at all? Even if you make a choice to be so based on monetary value.

Because at a certain time in our lives (read pre-teenage and teenage years) we're all stupid, some more than others. Kids split into factions and worship what they consider cool/hip while bashing those who think otherwise.

M$ is playing catch up, sony is holding all the wild cards thus far. and at $100 cheaper..
You would have to be literally handicapped to choose dumboxone over a ps4 after EVERYTHING that has been showcased and showen off thus far.
XboxONE was ac orrectly chosen name... as they went back to square ONE and ****** the entire idea behind what a gaming console SHOULD do... (play games??!?!?!)

the $100 price difference only exists in america, here in aus the ps4 is $550 n the xb1 is 599 so theres bugger all difference there. anyway microsoft took out the drm so im happy, preordered it today :P

I'm kind of laughing at some of these comments about how MS "cares" about gamers and is "listening to the consumer." If any of that were true than these restrictions would never have been implemented in the first place. The real reason is the pre-order numbers are looking bad (X1 easily available, ps4 out of stock multiple times.) Instead of "praising" Microsoft for caring about the consumer, you should be thanking Sony for forcing their hand - this is the benefit of competition. I'm not saying this is bad news, it's great news, but don't be naive about it by thinking MS is so altruistic and loving: they were forced to do this.

MS doesn't give a **** about you. All they care about is money and they'll push you as far as they can to make the most out of you. This time the numbers showed them they pushed too far so they backed off a bit.

I love my Xbox, Xbox LIve and the best controller in gaming. They listened to the gamers, I will reward them with a X1 purchase Day One. It wouldn't bother me one bit if they worked the DRM content so you could share your digital purchases with 10 family members, but give me a choice. If I buy a physical copy I do what I want with it and only physical sharing. You might see a lot of consumers opt for the DRM content if they did it this way given the choice. Just a thought. Kudos MS!

As much as I would like to scoff I actually applaud Microsoft for this move. It takes a lot for a company this arrogant to bend to the will of its users. It shows how scared they were of losing. I'm still not going to buy one because I'm not convinced it's as powerful as the ps4 (and I'm more into the single player experience), the Xbox one is now a worthy adversary. I think they learned from the windows 8 dilemma (Even though I actually like windows 8) that the wrong perception can damage sales. captcha: that escalated quickly

I dont believe you m$, and to say they dont need to be online but they need to be online to load patches and to be able their digital versions(duh) so the argument dont hold up, and to Scare the ppl with denail off their bought content is not helping!!